In an era of growing technological progress and internet penetration across Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia has seized the opportunity to flood the African information landscape with deceptive narratives. Ranging from health to security, these narratives are carried by a vast amount of online manipulation levers, part of a wider foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) effort by Russia to advance their foreign policy.
Over the past half-decade, Russia has cultivated a disinformation ecosystem, where fabricated and unverified information often eclipses factual reporting and independent journalism in a number of African countries. Beyond the realm of using information manipulation against the West, this insidious activity undermines trust in democratic institutions and raises significant security concerns for local populations.
While Russia and its FIMI industry assert that the Kremlin is uniquely positioned to provide security and military assistance to nations in need, the reality paints a starkly different picture—one marked by ongoing deterioration of security and stability. This not only underscores Russia’s inability to meet its commitments but also clearly illustrates a lack of genuine intention to do so.
This section of EUvsDisinfo website features content about Russian FIMI activities in Africa based on the expertise of the EEAS, independent journalists, researchers and civil society voices. It also exposes pro-Kremlin FIMI incidents in the continent, backed up by open source data.
An EEAS investigation uncovered a global digital pipeline used to recruit foreign nationals into Russia’s war, often through deceptive job offers and hidden military recruitment.
Information manipulators use old gossip, intimate fear, and anti-Western conspiracy theory to push the boundaries of information manipulation.
The Kremlin repurposed the former Wagner Group assets to create the African Initiative – an information manipulation operation posing as a real news agency to spread disinformation.
The story of how a global agreement among 104 countries sparked a disinfo storm in Nigeria over supposed EU conditions on LGBTIQ+ rights.
Unique insights in how Russian information manipulation and interference operations work and how to expose them to raise collective awareness and build resilience.
What was a simple procedural delay in visa processing, spurred a coordinated campaign of false narratives, claiming that the EU and France rejected the validity of the AES passport.
In 2007, the infamous charity L'Arche de Zoé attempted to abduct Chadian children, claiming they were orphans. Misleading videos about the event still spread on social media to this day.
Russia's FIMI operations in Africa are not fleeting campaigns but an embedded, adaptive and persistent feature of the information environment. Russia aims to reshape public perception, undermine Western influence, and advance its own long-term, geopolitical objectives on the continent.
When Russia disrupts food security and cuts off energy supplies, its global disinformation apparatus goes into overdrive - shifting blame, making threats, and trying to hide its deliberate weaponisation of basic needs.
Cultural cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo serves as a front for the Kremlin’s African influence campaign, exploiting young people's curiosity and aspirations.
The Russian state pays big money for the creation of ‘patriotic’ computer games which are intended to conquer the ‘hearts and minds’ by glorifying wars - from 17th century Russia, to 20th century fights with the US in Eastern Europe.
Real-world scenarios in computer gaming push Russia’s expansionist agenda to a tech-savvy youth audience.
The Kremlin uses the Russian Orthodox Church to spread disinformation, weaponize historical memory and conjure the perception of protecting 'traditional values' across Africa.
A recent field survey reveals that young Africans, disillusioned by socio-economic struggles, are drawn to alternative narratives making them receptive to Kremlin's anti-Western propaganda.
In this candid discussion, Marystella A. Simiyu addresses disinformation and information manipulation in Africa advocating for rights-based responses.
While Russia asserts that it is uniquely positioned to provide security to African nations in need, the reality paints a starkly different picture.
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Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.
